Planetary drive assembly with idlers for low floor vehicle

A gear drive assembly for driving a vehicle wheel comprising:

• a gear housing;
• a ring gear rotatably supported on at least one bearing for rotation relative to said gear housing about a ring gear axis of rotation;
• an input gear in meshing engagement with said ring gear;
• an output gear in meshing engagement with said ring gear to provide driving output to a vehicle wheel;
• and
• an idler gear assembly interposed between said input and output gear to transfer load from said input gear to said output gear.

A drive axle assembly comprising:

• a center axle housing;
• a first wheel end assembly mounted at first end of said axle housing;
• a second wheel end assembly mounted at a second end of said axle housing opposite end from said first end;
• a input gear assembly positioned at said first end of said axle housing for providing driving input to said first and second wheel end assemblies;
• a first axle shaft coupled to said input gear assembly for driving said first wheel end assembly;
• a second axle shaft coupled to said input gear assembly for driving said second wheel end assembly wherein said second axle shaft is longer than said first axle shaft;
• a first gear reduction assembly receiving input from said first axle shaft and providing output to drive said first wheel end assembly;
• and
• a second gear reduction assembly receiving input from said second axle shaft and providing output to drive said second wheel end assembly wherein said first and second gear reduction assemblies each include a ring gear rotatably supported within a gear housing, a drive gear in meshing engagement with said ring gear, a driven gear in meshing engagement with said ring gear, and an idler gear assembly in meshing engagement with said drive and driven gears such that input is transferred from said input gear assembly to said driven gear via said drive and idler gear assembly.